In Haliburton, It's SBM not GTL

SBM you ask? Well... that means SUN, BEER, MEAT not Gym, Tan, Laundry... sorry J-WOW.

After a wild Friday night in downtown Toronto, (Roosevelt Room/Ultra) what better a way to nurse the hangover than a 4 hour drive North? Lemme tell ya, it was an epic cruise. The road wound through massive rocks, lakes and nooks around every corner, sweeping turns and... no police to issue speeding tickets.

This, is my trip in photos. The names have been changed to protect their identities. ha. The best part of the cruise was the historic HWY 118 off the equally famous HWY 11 (the longest road in the world!) Here's a map - check out the 118

With a lil' luck, we arrived in Haliburton without hitting traffic - to park the car and throw away the keys for the next 48 hours.

Here are some photos of the Lake, Cottage, Peoples, and Sightings :)

Some may need an explanation,

That's J-WOW and AT checking out the amazing waterfront of the cottage // and DG saying hi from the fantastic deck // J-WOW and AT on the deck... it begins...

I saw this on the wall and had to take a photo of it... it's pretty great eh? Knitted.

This is a classic photo from the end of my favourite cottage/drinking game, "Pile-Up on 'Lermo"

And a photo of my bud passed out with his motorcycle helmet on :) Awesome. AT working the fire while DON VITO gives his endorsement of the activities.

After the night's ruckus, we decided to rent a pontoon boat for the day... seemed like a good idea at the time. Who knew those suckers could sink?

We almost sunk it and drowned. Twice. Thank goodness for my boat knowledge :)

Did that sound like fun? Heck ya it did!

Join me next time...

See you in the .. FUTURE

Today we had a special lecture in our social and digital media class that emphasized social capital (check this too) and connectedness through our network we’ve developed in the last four months. It was presented thousands of years ahead of 'now' ... in the future. My HumberPR social media gangsters introduced “Future Camp”, led by Zack Sandor-Kerr and Jenna Stothers, where we discussed how we’ll stay close when our course is done and we are let loose in the real world.

Ideally, I hope to stay connected through the random phone calls and texts that we share, but also to utilize some of the social media platforms we’ve discovered to keep in touch. Our Facebook group will remain; we’ve also developed a new Twitter hashtag (#) that we could use to mobilize monthly events. Our favourite, Why Not Wednesdays will be converted into the hashtag #YnotW.

With another semester ahead of us, I’m sure the sinking feeling of our time together coming to an end will hit in the not too distant future… But I feel confident I’ll be able to reach out whenever, wherever, to the future generation of PR practitioners and the current best buds in the universe. Good luck to all and don’t forget… @JaymesBeatty.

Special Shout-Outs to HUMBER ON TWITTER! (click to connect to their fantastic blogs)

Patrick @PatHPR
Jeff @ChefDeafJeff
Sarah @LatishaFlash
Zack @ZackSandorKerr
Jenna @Jenna Stothers
Sarah @SarahLongPR
Laura @LauraTeed
Kathleen @KathleenNapier
Kiel @KielCulture
Amanda @AmandaLeone
Deborah @DeborahWaines
Zofia @ZofiaSzaflarska
Ben @BWylie1
Michael @MichaelCayley / @MemeticBrand


and follow the trend #humberpr #YnotW

Good Day!

RISK: my game in photos

RISK... quite possibly my favourite board game of all time! Who doesn't like a game based around world domination?? No friend of mine. Here are my tactics through 12 pictures - taken after my turn was completed. I'm the Blue Team ~ The Africans are strong.

Charlie is Red, Grey is Steve and Black is Aaron... like his soul. As you can see, I'm concerned with Brasil, Southern and Western Europe invading N.Africa and Egypt :( no bueno.

I make my move into the Middle East Into INDIA! Building up a massive defensive shield to protect Africa from invaders! Fortify! Things are coming to a boiling point... It fcuking GO TIME! Africa is like a compressed spring. Population of the world takes a hit... Blue Empire is RUTHLESS.I took a run at it. My quest to defeat ended in Iceland. I had broken all networked alliances. With so many troops I had to make a move... plus it was getting late.

The results... the Blue Empire is stretched too thin and everyone around the world is dead. Blue influence has extended from Africa to modern day Vietnam and throughout Asia, Russia and Europe.

Nobody wins due to de-motivation.

PR 2.0, the love child of Web 2.0 and Public Relations

There has been a renaissance if you will, in public relations. Known as PR 2.0, it breaks away from traditional public relations and marketing activities, best typified through the 1900’s as the archaic “man with the megaphone”. PR 2.0 has renewed credibility, exposed a newfound transparency, and opened communication previously marred by our society’s stigma of the PR industry. And it’s all because of the Internet, Web 2.0 and social media.

Social and digital media should be considered the love child of the Internet and Web 2.0. The development of Web 2.0 heightened interaction and shifted power on the ‘world-wide internets’ from traditional producers (businesses and organizations) to consumers as producers (think YOU; YouTube, blogs and Facebook). From a PR perspective it's important to remember that while Web 2.0 influences PR 2.0, PR2.0 is not Web 2.0 and was never intended as such.

The transition of public relations to incorporate social media has been no different than any other adaptation the field has encountered through waves of technological progress. Marshall McLuhan’s famous “the medium is the message” still holds true as public relations activities will continue to link customers and businesses yet the medium is PR 2.0. The easiest way to frame this relationship is to consider PR 2.0 as the vehicle public relations has used to adapt to the social and digital media phenomenon. PR 2.0 utilizes Web 2.0 and social media to change the
terms of engagement between business and consumer, allowing the PR professional and business to listen, learn and share with their audiences. This has revitalized interest in public relations and opened the door to two-way communication. As Deirdre Breakenridge explains, “PR 2.0 puts the public back in public relations”.

So what does that mean for the PR professional? It means that due to increasing broadband connectivity, Web 2.0 and social media, the PR professional has new ways to communicate with audiences and a new medium to conduct the same (but think 2.0’d) activities. The one-way communication of the past has been replaced by online interaction, two-way dialogue and sharing. PR can tap into the sentiments of the global community and in effect, reestablish a business, product, or service to reflect the wishes of their potential or real consumers. It means that PR has changed, and here’s how:

- PR and building relationships is like Canada and hockey. PR 2.0 brings networking into the mix on a whole new level; online.
– No one can hide anything thanks to the Internet. Therefore it is essential that PR 2.0 practitioners embrace this and stay ‘real’ (transparent) with their audiences. People will see through the bullmish in “the age of awareness”.
– The idea of incorporating two-way communication, learning and sharing from Web 2.0 builds credibility. Introducing a new 3rd party endorser, PR 2.0 highlights the ‘blogger’ as the new go-to individuals, like the journalist in years past.
– PR 2.0 allows companies to better gauge public opinion, on a micro/macro level, whenever needed and at the click of the mouse. PR practitioners can proactively seek new and diverse audiences.

It is undoubted that PR has evolved to incorporate the potentials of Web 2.0 and social media, how pervasive it shall become in both everyday life and my aspiring public relations career is something I look forward to witnessing. If you haven’t already, you can connect with everything that is me by visiting here! I'm everywhere...